Go Away Potter
by XxXQueenofHeartsXxX
Summary: James devotes all of his free time into driving Lily crazy. So what happens when he decides to blackmail Lily for her affection?
1. Prologue

**Prologue **

**Hell is an Understatement

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_Disclaimer- Unfortunately, this is not mine.

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**Hell:** _noun_ a place or situation of evil or destruction

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"Lily, can you show me where the library is?" A big blue eyed, blond haired first year asked the 5th year. His eyes had an entrancing quality that was rather adorable coming from such a minute human.

Lily let out a frustrated sigh at the boy's question, "Michael, I have been showing you the way to the library for the past week. You don't remember where it is?"

"No. I think I have short termed memory challenged." The boy blinked inquisitively at her. He gave a sweet pout as he rocked his shoulders back and forth waiting for Lily to reply.

"Short term memory loss?" Lily corrected, her lips curling into a smile at his childish mistake.

Michael frowned, "Uh huh." Lily had been considering saying no to him. She was getting rather bored with walking him to the library but that innocent, melancholy face told her that he really needed help adjusting to his new home, Hogwarts.

Lily sighed giving in to his innocence, "Alright, fine. But this is the last day I'm going to help you." Lily said. "So make sure you remember which corridors to take."

"Can you hold my hand?" He pouted extending a hand up towards Lily.

Lily took his small hand and began to lead him towards the library when a voice, like nails on a blackboard, made her wince.

"Not fair!" James said, jumping over the stair banister. Silently, he had been watching Lily; a hobby that was among his favorites. He landed next to Lily gracefully, throwing her a dimpled smile.

"Go away Potter." Lily barked.

"No. He does this to you every day." He said, nodding towards Michael.

"That's because he doesn't have the brain power to remember how to get to the library. Just like you don't have the brain power to remember how every time you bother me, you end up hexed." Lily's eyes narrowed at James as she spoke.

James ran a hand through his messy hair, "I think he has another agenda…"

"Would you stop doing that to your hair?" Lily nagged. "God, do you really think it looks better like that?" She barked.

"Come on, let's get away from him and go to the library." Michael said, tugging on Lily's hand.

"Wait. He has another agenda?" Lily asked, finally realizing that James had said something before she jumped down his throat about his hair.

"No shit Evans." He said.

Lily frowned, "Go away Potter. You're just jealous because he's holding my hand and your not."

"Yeeeeah Potter." Michael sang.

James raised an eyebrow at the first year and continued, "Why don't you tell Lily what you've been telling all your friends in the common room?" James condescendingly said, kneeling next to him.

"Potter, get the hell out of here." Lily said, again turning to head towards the library.

"Okay, but he's just using you Evans!" He called after her.

Lily wheeled around again, and accidentally yanking on Michael's arm as she did, causing him to let out a surprised yelp. "He's a bloody first year!" She said.

"A damn smart one too." James said. "Either that or your just too naïve to see past your nose."

"What are you aiming at?"

James chuckled, "He wants to walk to the library with you every day so he can spend time with you. It seems Mr. Michael has a wittle crush on Wiwy Evans." He cooed.

Lily blushed, "Shut up Potter."

"He does! Ask him." James suggested.

Lily looked down at Michael who was furiously looking at James. "She's not supposed to know!" He said, stomping his foot.

"Aw, that's actually really cute." Lily said.

"Cute?" James repeated.

"Yes Potter, are you deaf?" Lily asked, annunciating each word as if James was really deaf.

"You think guys that have crushes on you are cute?" James asked.

"Yes I do." Lily spat.

"So you must think I'm damn hot then." A cheeky smile crossed his face as he used simple logic to mess with Lily. "Because I am in _love_ with you Evans."

"What? Bloody hell Potter!" Lily said, frustrated. "He's only 11!"

"So you rather date an eleven year old than me?"

"YES!" Lily shouted. James had pushed her past her point of patience a long time ago.

"Sweet…" Michael mumbled.

"You perv!" James said; grinning at how Lily had fallen for the trap he laid. "You'd date a first year?"

"Of course not!"

Michael whimpered and promptly ran off, cursing Lily as he did.

"Now look what you've done." James said. He quickly caught up with the now departing Lily. "Where are you going?" He asked.

"Away from you." She said, her face red with anger.

"But I want to talk to you."

"Well that's just too bad because at the moment, I want nothing to do with you." She entered the Great Hall, which was filled with students eating their diner and socializing.

"You can't keep avoiding alone time with me Evans."

"Alone time?" Lily repeated, making her way down the center aisle towards an empty seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Yeah, so we can talk." James said.

"What the hell would we talk about?"

"About how much you love me."

"Get your head out of your arse Potter. I hate you."

"Nah." James dismissed. "Come on, let's go outside, I want to talk to you."

"First of all, it's against the rules to go outside this late at night and sec-." She began but was interrupted by him.

"And God forbid you got a bad mark on your_ perfect _record…" He mocked.

Lily's eyes narrowed at him, "That's it! I'm done talking to you."

"I hoped I wouldn't have to resort to bribery and blackmail but alas, you have given me no choice…." He said with a shrug.

Lily glared at him, "What bribe me to go with you with a box of chocolate frog trading cards?" She said, sarcastically. "Not a chance."

"No with this." James said, pulling out a slip of paper from his pocket.

"James you're not bribing me to talk to you with a bit of parchment."

"Dear James," He began reading from the paper in his hands. "It is your dearest Lily writing to you. My heart throbs with pure love for your handsome features and perfectly sculpted rear end…" He said, grinning as he spoke.

"I didn't write that!" Lily interrupted.

James leaned in closer to her and said, "You know that and so do I but…" He extended a hand dramatically. "The school doesn't."

"No one will believe that rubbish." Lily dismissed.

"Shame Sirius and Remus witnessed you putting in my dorm this morning…"

"Bloody hell Potter!" Lily said, lunging for the letter.

"I don't think so." James said, sliding it into his slack's pocket.

"Give the damn thing to me." Lily dove her hand into his pocket.

James, naturally, did not object to Lily groping around in his pocket. He enjoyed it.

"Lily…" He said, grabbing the wrist of the hand that was in his pocket.

"Where'd it go?" Lily asked, continuing to search his seemingly empty pocket.

"You got to dig down deeper." James said.

Lily frowned, "You prick! Where is it?" She snapped angrily.

"Lily stop touching me!" James shouted.

Several nearby students turned to look at the pair. Lily blushed and took her hand out of his pocket. "Whoa Evans." A passing seventh year said. "I never would have guessed…" He nodded his head in approval as he continued to the Ravenclaw table causing Lily to blush a deep red.

James laughed and tossed Lily the parchment that had been in his pocket. "It's yours."

"It's blank!" Lily threw the paper to the floor. "James Potter you will not wake up tomorrow morning!" She shouted.

"I love it when you blush…" James said, grinning at her embarrassed face.

"I've had enough!" Lily cried.

"Me too." James agreed. "I've had enough of this, 'Let's pretend we are not seriously in love with James Potter' thing."

Lily's face grew redder, if possible. "James, I am going to give you three seconds to get your sorry arse as far away as possible from me before I take my wand out and hex you until you pass out." She hissed, threw gritted teeth.

"One…" Lily began.

"My parents used to do this before they'd spank me…" James grinned as he watched Lily scowled.

"Two…" To keep herself from attacking James, she grinded her teeth and clenched her fist tightly until her knuckles were white.

"Are you going to spank me?"

"Two and a half…"

"I was just kidding. Calm down Evans."

"Three!" Lily dug her hand into her pocket and pulled out her trusty 10 ¼ inch willow wand; perfect for charms and hexing annoying black haired Gryffindors.

"Miss Evans!" A ruler went whipping threw the air and found Lily's hand, leaving her with a nasty red lash across it. She involuntarily dropped her wand as she shook of the pain.

Lily swore angrily, expecting to turn and see the culprit of the distraction to be Sirius, "You fuc-." She angrily shouted as she turned only to find 6' 10", Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor, Nicholas Newell hovering over her.

Lily's mouth dropped and she gasped slightly. "What were you going to call me?" He asked.

"I, um…" Lily began, trying to think of something to get her out of this.

James let out a roar of laugher as he tripped onto a bench, clutching his stomach tightly. Lily sent a death glare at James but he didn't notice. He was too preoccupied with trying to breath through his laughter to notice anything going on.

"You were going to call me a f'ing what?" He asked, his voice deep and hoarse.

Lily shook her head; she didn't know what to say. "Probably a f'ing man whore." James piped in. "At least, that's what she usually calls me." He shrugged.

Lily closed her eyes and begged herself not to turn around strangle him. "Evans, to my office right now."

"Excuse me Professor, but I think it would be more appropriate if I spoke with McGonagall about my consequence. She after all, is the head of Gryffindor." Lily suggested. Even though McGonagall was strict, she rather it be her that punished Lily than Newel.

"I don't think that will be necessary. I am quiet capable of thinking up a decent punishment for you…" Newel said.

"It's not that she doesn't think you can think of an appropriate punishment." James began, speaking in a 'matter of fact' kind of tone. "She's just afraid that you might rape her."

Lily's mouth dropped, "Why would she think that?" Newel asked, turning to Lily.

Lily shook her head, "That's a bloody good question! Why would I think that Potter?" She barked.

"Because you told me so." James lied.

"That's it. To my office Evans."

As Lily was being dragged off by Newel, she shot James a dirty glare and flicked him off. "I bloody hate you!" She searched for a non-vulgar word to use in front of Newel. "Four eyes!"

"Carrot top."

Lily let out a frustrated groan. "I hope you rot in the depths of the hell."

"I'll see you there, Love." James said, blowing her a kiss.

No matter what Lily said, James would always outdo her, which just pissed her off more. But sadly, this was the only way James felt he could get attention from the girl he had a crush on for five years.

Which was very unfortunate for Lily.

_A/N- This was just a spur of the moment kind of chapter. Actually, I would consider it more of a prologue seeing as it is rather short. So how'd you like it?_

_If I get reviews, I'll continue. If not, then I won't. After all, there is really no sense in me continuing if no ones going to read it._

_Please Review._

_Thanks,_

_Claire_


	2. Blackmail

**Blackmail

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Lily trudged up to the Gryffindor Common Room feeling completely miserable. She had just finished talking to Newel and was less than happy about her punishment.

No, not unhappy because she'd be spending the following evening from five until nine with Newel but because she was going to have Potter with her.

In her anger, she had told Newel a very exaggerated version of what had happened; including James trying to force Lily to drink a Boil Potion, locking Lily out of the castle and finally, attempting to put Lily in a coma. All of which, obviously didn't happen though she didn't doubt James' capability of doing it.

Lily entered the common room to find James surrounded by a group of girls ranging from first year up into seventh year. Lily sighed in relief as she tip toed passed the group and towards her dorm.

"LILY!" James shouted across the common room. Lily winced and pretended not to hear him. "Lily over here!'

Lily groaned, "What Potter?"

"I still have to talk to you."

"We can tomorrow at our detention."

"Our?" James asked, hoping off of the armrest of the couch.

"Yeah." Lily said, "5 o'clock in Newel's office."

"Wait!" James stopped Lily before she could start up the dorm stairs.

"Go away Potter, I really have no patience left for you."

A smirk crossed over his face, "Well you're going to have to find some."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Because I'm blackmailing you." He said, with a quick nod.

Lily rolled her eyes, "Goodnight James."

"Do these letters mean anything to you?" He asked, taking out a piece of parchment. "A, C, C, D…."

Lily wheeled around to him. "What is that?" She demanded, rushing down the last few steps.

"This, my beautifully sculpted masterpiece, is how you got a perfect score on your History of Magic midterm."

Lily winced, "What are you implying?"

"That you cheated." A grin crossed his face as he watched Lily process what he had said.

"I never cheated in my life." Lily lied.

James shrugged, "So you won't mind me showing this to Binns? McGonagall? Dumbledore? _Your parents_?"

"Just give it to me." She said, extending a hand towards him.

"Sorry, Love." He shrugged. "Besides, this is just a copy. I'm not daft enough to carry around the real thing with me."

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "If you want me to fall in love with you, I suggest blackmail is not the way to do it."

James shrugged, "Yeah it is."

"No."

"Is too."

"How could I love you when you're blackmailing me!"

James shook his head, "Lily, no woman could resist my charm." He said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

"Well I've been resisting it for a quite a long time."

"Ah but you admit I do have a charm."

"You have no charm." Lily insisted.

Changing the subject, James said, "What is your favorite physical feature about me?" He asked as if he were a news reporter.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to leave again, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." James sang.

"Why the bloody hell not?"

"Because if you leave me, tomorrow morning I'll notify Binns about the discovery I made."

"Go ahead." Lily insisted.

"So you don't mind being expelled?"

Lily sighed, "I hate you." She said, turning back down the stairs. She couldn't get expelled and she also knew no one could know about that one time she ever cheated in her life.

She was a near perfect student; except for the trouble she landed herself in almost every time James enraged her. So if she was revealed to have cheated, people might doubt her intelligence. And she wasn't about to let herself land in trouble because of that.

James beamed, "So answer the question."

Lily shook her head and looked away from him, "Please don't do this James."

James sighed, "Answer Lils."

Lily groaned, "Fine, your…eyes are nice." She tried to sound as if she was just throwing out an item, just to answer the question, but she wasn't. She really did like his eyes.

James' smile grew wider, "You have gorgeous eyes too." He said, putting a hand on the side of her face.

Lily felt electricity flow through her as James' hand touched her cheek. "Don't touch me." She said, swatting away his hand.

"You enjoyed that."

"Enjoyed you touching me?"

"Yes."

"No."

James nodded, "Did too. No one can resist me. It's not your fault."

Lily sighed frustrated, "Can I leave your highness?"

"Oh, I like that…. Highness…"

"Whatever, I'm leaving."

"Goodbye my dear Lily!" He called; making sure the whole common room could hear him. "Goodnight my love, my _girlfriend_."

Lily winced as she entered her room. James turned away, knowing he had accomplished what he had wanted. What he wanted to accomplish was the question….

"Ow!" James said, rubbing the back of his head where something hard had fallen. He looked up to see Lily Evans, standing on the balcony in front of her dorm giving James the middle finger. By the book sitting on the floor, he could only assume that Lily had taken careful aim and dropped it on his head.

"Thanks Love." He picked the book up, his other hand still rubbing his aching head. "I always wanted to read…" He turned the book over to read the title. "The Art of Belly Dancing…." James raised an eyebrow as he studied the woman on the front cover wearing a top just covering her chest and a flowing shirt, her flat stomach moving in a curious manner.

James tilted his head sideways at the picture and thrust his hips out to the side in an attempt to mimic the woman on the front cover.

Lily blushed and immediately stormed down stairs to wrench the book out of James hand. "I don't want to know what the hell you were trying to do…" And without another word, she went back upstairs to sulk about her miserable fate.

"She defiantly wants you." Sirius said, after watching the two argue much to his amusement.

"I know." James took a seat next to him, throwing his feet up on the coffee table.

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**_The Following Morning…_**

"I think it's kind of cute actually." Sarah, Lily's best friend said. "In a creepy stalker way."

Lily sighed, "James is so not cute no matter which way you look at it." She said.

"Oh come on. Most girls would kill to have a hot guy _that_ attracted to her. He drools over you." Sarah pointed out.

"He is not hot…"

"Please Lily." Sarah said, not believing Lily. "He so is."

"Is not."

"Liar."

"He isn't hot."

"Lily he is!"

"No he's not!"

"Yes I am."

"Shut up Potter." Lily spat as he entered the conversation. "Wait Potter?" Lily wheeled around to see where the voice was coming from but the room was seemingly empty except for herself and Sarah.

_How could James be in here?_

"Potter you're not supposed to be in the _girls_' dorm." Lily said, looking around waiting for him to make some grand entrance filled with confetti and balloons; something James typically did.

"I'm not in your dorm. And this is not James." He answered in a spooky God-like tone.

Lily rolled her eyes and tried to follow his voice. "This is your conscious Lily." James continued. "You know you love James. So go snog him senselessly."

Sarah giggled but Lily was less amused. She pushed open her curtain to see James Potter outside her window, hovering feet above the ground on his broom.

"Well hello Evans." He said, smiling sweetly. "Would you care to come on a relaxing broom ride around the grounds?"

"Nothing is relaxing around you." Lily said, before slamming her window shut. Making sure to lock it.

"Open up!" James yelled as he banged on the window.

"Not a chance…" Lily mumbled, heading towards the door.

"Need I remind you of a certain bit of parchment I possess that may alter your…status here at Hogwarts?"

Lily frowned and turned back to the window, "What do you want Potter?"

"You."

Lily sighed and turned to Sarah, "Could you give us a second?"

"Gladly…" Sarah scurried off of the room, knowing that this could possible erupt into a war.

Lily turned to James who was smirking at her. Lily groaned and against her better judgment opened the window.

"Thanks Love." He said, entering the room.

"Don't touch anything." Lily watched him head over to her bureau.

"Not even…this?" He asked, sliding open the top draw to her dresser.

"Potter stay out of there!" Lily demanded as he started to fish through the drawer.

"Ah ha!" He pulled out a black bra and Lily groaned, heading over to take it from him.

James covered his eyes with a hand, "My guess…32 B." He uncovered his eyes and looked at the tag on the bra. "Bingo."

Lily ripped it out of his hands, "Could you leave please or do I have to kick you out?"

"I think I'll stay actually." James said, throwing himself onto Lily's bed; his wet muddy boats all over her blankets.

"Get off of my bed!" She started over to him feeling like she was babysitting a four year old.

"Want to join me? There's plenty of room?" He motioned to the empty space next to him.

Lily grimaced and backed away from the bed. "Why are you doing this? What do you want?"

"I thought I already told you." James said, gazing up at her with a calm, laid back expression.

"More specifically than me." Lily spat.

"Well…" He began. "When a boy and girl love each other they…"

"Stop." Lily interrupted, completely disgusted with him.

James laughed, "I was only joking. Actually I came up here so I could walk you to breakfast."

"I am quiet capable of getting to the Great Hall by myself."

James rolled his eyes, "Duh. But that's what boyfriend and girlfriend do."

Lily gave a sour chuckled, "And what makes you think we're a couple?"

James sighed as if he was annoyed about Lily's clueless attitude but he was actually enjoying it. "Do you not understand the concept of blackmail?"

Lily frowned at him and he continued, "I'm blackmailing you. So you have to do what I ask."

"I' m not doing anything you tell me to."

"Then you'll have to suffer the consequences…" James got up from the bed and headed towards the door.

"You sound like my mother."

"Speaking of your mother, I'm sure she's going to pretty disappointed that her daughter cheated on a major examine…"

Lily groaned, "I hate you Potter." Lily said, walking over to the door with him.

"I don't believe that."

"Come on, let's go before I change my mind."

James held out a hand to Lily and she looked at it, confused, "You dolt," James said. "You're supposed to _hold_ it."

"I'm not touching you."

James shrugged, "Very well…. I'll just have to write a couple letters before we go than…"

Lily groaned and promptly took his hand. "I **will** find a way to get back at you for this…"

"Good luck." James said, grinning as their hands intertwined. "Because once my charm sets in, there's no turning back."

Lily rolled his eyes, not wanting more than to kick him in the groin repeatedly and cackle evilly as he suffered.

_A/N- Okay, so now you can actually see a plot in this chapter. James is so immature…_

_I have a grammar question to ask all of you. When you have name that ends in a 'S' and you are talking about something that belongs to them, do you write James's shirt or James' shirt or something else?_

_Just wondering because my grammar sucks._

_Please review and thanks to the people that reviewed the prologue._

_Claire_


	3. The Rules

**The Rules

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Lily groaned as she watched student after student's mouth drop open after seeing Lily and James holding hands.

"I think I'm going to puke Potter. Don't you think this is enough hand holding?" Lily whined.

"Nope." He simply replied.

"Then I'm definitely going to puke. And I'll be sure to aim at you.

"I bet you're hot when you puke."

"Shut up."

"No really. But you're beautiful all the time, so I guess puking shouldn't be an exception."

"Shut up." Lily repeated.

James sighed, "You know, you'd be much happier if you look at the bright side of things."

"There is no bright side to you."

"Sure there is. I'm smart, funny and incredibly handsome. What's not to love?" He rhetorically asked with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

"The fact you are immature and increasingly annoying."

"You know you love me." He winked at her before leading her off towards an abandoned corridor.

"The Great Hall is the other way." Lily said.

"I know." He led her down the corridor a short way before turning to her.

"What are we doing?" She felt her chest seize up in panic at a terrifying thought. "You're not going to force me to make out with you?" This after all, was one of the most popular corridors to do such thing.

James chuckled, "Not a bad idea actually."

Lily groaned, "I will kill myself before I ever kiss you."

"Nah, I think our first kiss should be somewhere public and showy." He thought out loud, ignoring her threat to commit suicide.

"Okay I'm leaving." She promptly turned towards the end of the corridor. The thought of a showy make out session with Potter **in front of people **made her sick.

"Hey, you can't leave."

Lily wheeled around, "I'm not making out with you. Ever."

"Alright, alright." James took a step towards her and gently ran his hand down the side of her freckled face.

"What did I tell you about touching me?" She pushed away his hand angrily.

"That you love it very much." He lied with a cheeky smile.

Lily sighed, "Impossible..."

"Oh, I almost forgot." James began. "I have to go over some ground rules with you…"

"Ground rules?"

"Yeah. Things you have to do or the world will know that you cheated." He lifted his hand up to eye level and read the rules he had written on it. "You have to enjoy my company…"

"Enjoy you're company? Are you mad? " Lily interrupted.

James sighed and moved his hand aside to look at her, "Fine, just pretend then." He suggested. "When I squeeze you hand, you have to tell me you love me."

"Oh no." Lily said, shaking her head. "Not going to happen, prat."

"You have to Love, sorry." He merely shrugged and continued. "Finally, you have to call me sweetie or sugar."

Lily's mouth dropped, "I hate you with a passion."

"I wouldn't say that Love."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah because in a couple days, you'll fall for me. Hard." He said in an 'as a matter of fact' tone. "And seeing as you are stubborn and hate to admit when you're wrong, it'll be easy for you to admit that you love to me if you don't go on about how much you hate me now."

Lily's eyes narrowed at him, "I will never 'fall for you'." She said, mockingly.

"Will too."

"Not."

"Too."

"James must I remind you!" Her patience was being tested again. "Girls do not like creepy, stalker, black mailing guys!"

"But alas, I'm handsome which makes up for those qualities." He gave her a wink before leading her back out the main corridor.

"You are not bloody handsome, you conceited pig!" She snapped.

James chuckled and turned to face her, gently putting his hands on her shoulders and pulling her close to him, "How could you say that?"

"The handsome part or the pig?" She glowered.

"The handsome part. The conceited pig thing I can see…"

"Well, if you'd get your head out of your arse, you'd realize that you're **not** what you crack yourself up to be." Her voice faltered as she realized how close they were.

James threw her a dimpled smile, "You like being this close." He said not as a question.

"Why would I enjoy being within a foot of your sickening presence?"

James shrugged, "Because maybe I'm not as sickening as you say I am."

"Please, you're _more_ sickening than I say you are." She hissed.

James stared deep into her two, big emerald eyes and didn't look away as he said, "You're lying."

"Wanna bet lover boy?" She asked, her eyes narrowing to small slits.

"Admit it. I'm handsome."

"Are not."

"Just say it Love."

Lily could feel her tense up under his hold on her. "Let go of me."

"Not until you admit it."

"James let go of me!" She demanded, squirming in his grasp.

James immediately let go of her. He would never use his physical strength as an advantage over her. "Just say it."

They began to head towards the Great Hall. Lily dug her hands in her pocket so James couldn't take hold of either of them. "No."

"Say it Evans."

"Will you promise to drop it if I do?"

"Yeah."

"No saying, 'I knew it' or 'Told you so'?"

"Yeah, alright."

Lily wheeled around to face him, "Fine James. You're handsome!" She nearly shouted before continuing towards the Great Hall.

"I know." Lily rolled her eyes at him.

"Shut up."

"And perchance, is there anything you find extremely attractive about me?"

"I said shut up!"

"My eyes are nice plus my smile makes all the girls swoon. Or maybe these sexy arm muscles…?

"I think you've done enough to torture me for one day." Lily continued to walk down the hall without looking at him as he caught up to her. "So leave."

"Sorry Love." Because Lily's hands were in her pockets, he chose to put his arm around her waist.

Lily looked down in disgust at the hand touching her, "Well you're plan to get me to fall in love with you isn't going to work."

"Is too." He argued, his hand moving lower down her waist.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!" She shouted, feeling his hand move towards her bum.

James gave her a sly grin, "Nothing."

Lily felt her body tense up with rage before she smacked him hard across the face, "If you ever think about doing that again I swear on my grandfather's grave you will end up in St. Mungo's for three months!" She could feel the eyes of passing students look over at the pair.

James put a hand over his now red face, "Ow."

"Good, it should hurt! You very well deserved it!"

"No not 'ow' as in that hurt. But 'ow' as in that was damn hot Evans."

Lily's face reddened, "You. Did. Not. Just. Say. That."

"Yes I did. You're hot when you get feisty." A cheeky grin spread over his face.

"Feisty?" She shouted. "How is this for feisty?" In one fluid motion, Lily grabbed hold of his shoulders and kneed him hard in the groin.

James grimaced as he doubled over in pain, "You still like me when I'm feisty?" She demanded, before kneeing him again. She was enjoying it far too much…

James shook his head as another jolt of pain went through him, "Okay, okay." He wheezed. "You're not hot when you're feisty."

Lily backed off, now satisfied with the amount of pain he was in. "Now apologize."

"Sorry Love." He replied.

Lily nodded. "Good." She stuck her nose up in the air and turned to leave.

"Where do you think you're going?" He questioned, limping painfully to keep up with her.

"To the Great Hall to talk to my friends."

"You have fr-."

"Don't!" She said, knowing his petty wise cracks would make her even more wound up.

"You seem tense Evans…"

Lily glared at him and James winced covering his 'family jewels' with his hands. "Okay okay! Never mind."

Lily grinned and turned back to the entrance doors to the Great Hall, glad to see her attack on James had had the desired affect.

"Gotta pee or something?" Remus said, noticing James hands covering him.

"Hey Mooney." James said, following him inside, awkwardly.

Remus frowned, "You know you have a handprint on your face right?"

Lily saw an opportunity so she quickly took off in the other direction. She knew she couldn't stand anymore of this nonsense for one day and was in desperate need of some time with her friends.

"Don't think so." James said, pulling her back towards him.

"Potter, just let me go see my friends." She pouted.

"Fine I'll come."

Lily winced at the thought of James and her in front of her friends acting like a couple. Knowing James, he would make sure Lily's friends knew that the two were supposedly a pair. "Er never mind, I rather sit with your friends."

James grinned and took her hand again. Mooney raised an eyebrow at the two of them as he watched them sit down across from Sirius, hand in hand.

"Woah." Sirius said, wide-eyed.

"Don't say a bloody thing Black." Lily barked, grabbing a bagel from a basket on the table.

James winced as he sat down painfully. "Someone's cranky." Sirius cooed.

"Yeah I wonder why…" Lily said, sending a death glare to James.

James merely grinned and squeezed her hand. She groaned, knowing that he wanted her to say that she loved him. After all, Rule Number 2 was to say 'I love you, James' if he squeezed her hand.

"So have you finished the Transfiguration homework?" Lily asked Remus. She tried to ignore James as he squeezed her hand a second time.

"Almost." Remus replied.

"Lily would you pay attention." James said through gritted teeth to her, hoping his friends wouldn't notice them talking.

"I'm trying to have an intelligent conversation with Lupin that you clearly are incapable of." She whispered back.

Remus and Sirius watched them bicker with a slight amusement. Even though the two bickered constantly, what they bickered about was always quiet funny to hear.

James squeezed her hand once again, "Remember the rules."

"James I'm not saying it."

"You have to."

"No I don't."

"Fine." James said, standing up and directing himself towards the staff table.

"Wait!" Lily called after him.

"Yes Love?"

"Sit down and I'll say it…." She frowned. She was defeated_. Completely helpless to his blackmailing._

James grinned and sat back down at the table. "As you were saying…?" He said.

Lily looked from Sirius to Remus and blushed as they were both listening intently to the conversation.

"I um…er…I kind of…well…" She stuttered.

James smile grew wider. "Isn't she cute when she does that?"

Her blush grew deeper, "Well spit it out!" Sirius said.

"I love you _Potter_." She inaudibly said.

"Huh?" James asked.

"I love you."

"Can't hear you."

"I said I love you!"

"Wait what?"

Lily's face reddened even more as she turned back to her bagel. "Shut up. You heard me."

"Did she just say she loves you?" Remus asked in shock.

"That's what I heard…" Sirius replied who was also in disbelief.

"Yeah, we are a couple now." James said, throwing an arm around Lily.

Lily shrugged his arm off and hissed, "Don't push it four eyes."

"It doesn't look like you're a couple…" Sirius noted.

"Well we are right Lily?"

"…."

"Lily tell them!" James commanded.

She glared at James and shook her head, "See, she doesn't like you." Remus said.

"Lily…" He said in a condescending tone.

Lily let out a frustrated sigh, "Yes we're a couple."

"No bloody way…" Remus said in disbelief.

Sirius chuckled, "I knew you would come to terms Lily."

Lily's face grew red and she gripped her spoon white knuckled as she pleaded herself not to do anything she would regret.

_A/N- So what did you think? And thanks to all my reviewers!  
_

_I really like writing this fanfic, so I should have the next chapter up soon. But while you're waiting for it to come out, you could always review…._

_Please review!  
_

_Claire_


	4. Stage Two

**Stage Two

* * *

**

The day proceeded and nothing out of the ordinary happened…well unordinary for James and Lily.

James let out a sigh as Slughorn gave the instructions on how to broil a proper boil potion. "What would you do without me Love?" James rhetorically whispered, their hands clasped under the table. He was starring at her and had been starring at her for some time, which Lily found to be very unnerving.

"I'd be happy." Lily said sadly as she leaned forward on her desk, propping her head up with her hand.

James chuckled as if he thought Lily was actually joking, "You're just so adorable the way you joke like that."

"Joke?" Lily said, arching an eyebrow. "Yeah right." She tried her best to pay attention to what Slughorn was saying but it was near impossible with James yapping in her ear.

"You know it's true…" James cooed, examining her eyes as she watched Slughorn.

"What's true?" Lily asked, putting a hand up to the side of her face to keep James from looking at her anymore. She was so used to this starring and even though she didn't like it, she learned to deal with it.

"That you love me." He answered, leaning back in his chair, still not letting go of Lily's hand. In fact, James hadn't let go of Lily's hand all day.

"Leave me alone Potter." She replied. James reached forward and gently pulled Lily's hand away from her face so he could resume starring at her.

"But you're starting to fall for me…" James continued, ignoring her demand to shut up.

"James, I will never fall for you. Get that through your thick head." Lily replied, watching Slughorn demonstrate how to brew a potion. She quickly put her hand back up to the side of her face so James couldn't stare at her again.

"Hey Evans? Potter?" A voice said from behind the couple.

James and Lily turned around to face the handsome Ravenclaw that had called them and he continued, "Are you two going out?" He asked eyeing their touching hands.

Lily shook her head furiously but James said, "Yeah we are."

The Ravenclaw raised an eyebrow, "So you are or aren't?" He asked, confused as to why Lily would say no and James would say yes.

"Ahem!" Slughorn cleared his throat as he saw they three talking. James and Lily quickly turned around to face the front of the classroom.

"You know what?" James asked after Slughorn had gone back to lecturing.

"Don't know. Don't care." Lily replied, trying hard to focus now.

"You're lucky." Lily let out a laugh and quickly realized, as the quiet room looked over at her, that she had interrupted the class again. She tried to disguise her laugh as a cough but to not much avail.

"Breath love breath!" James said, hitting her on the back with a hand, like you'd burp a baby.

Lily frowned and squirmed away from his hand, "Alright, alright. I'm fine Potter." She insisted.

Slughorn let out a sigh at this second interruption before continuing again. "Now you want to boil it a low temperature at first…"

"And why exactly am I lucky?" Lily whispered curiously to James.

"Because I'm a nice blackmailer." James said which almost sent Lily into another fit of laughter.

"I can't wait to hear the explanation of this one…."

"Well most other guys who had complete control over you would have you in bed within an hour." He said matter-of-factly.

"Well most other guys wouldn't stoop so low as to blackmail me in the first place." She hissed through gritted teeth. She could feel her temper rising; bubbling up inside her.

James shrugged, "If it meant they could sleep with you they would."

"No because most guys who want that could do it the normal way." She said, her face turning red with anger.

"Normal way? You mean like offer to pay you 10 galleons for a night…?"

Lily wheeled around and smacked him in the shoulder, "Shut up Potter. I mean date me first." She snapped.

All eyes in the room turned to the pair after hearing Lily's hand collide hard with James's shoulder. James winced and rubbed his arm. "Is there a problem over there?" Slughorn asked.

"No everything's fine." James said but Lily just rolled her eyes.

"Really everything's fine Professor." She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm perfectly happy to be spending two blocks of Potions next to Potter while he whispers perverted things to me." She said audaciously before she could stop herself.

Slughorn, instead of getting upset, let out a roar of laughter. "My, my. Lily have I ever told you that you'd do well in my house?"

"Hundreds of times." Lily replied dryly.

"What cheek!" Slughorn boomed.

"Suck up…" James whispered as Slughorn went back to blabbering about potions. "Why does he love you so much? Did you sleep with him?" He asked, his eyes narrowing at her.

"James, leave me alone." Lily hissed as she slid her chair farther away from him.

"But Lils." He replied, moving closer to her as she tried to get away from him.

"You just insulted me and you think I really want to talk to you?" She snapped.

"Come on it was a joke, I don't think you actually sleep with guys for just 10 galleons."

"Excuse me?" She wheeled around to look at him.

"20 galleons at least." He continued.

Lily's face grew red as she tried to decide whether she should kick him first or hex him. "Just joking." He added, before Lily could snap at him again.

"You better be…" Lily mumbled.

"Why? What would you do if I wasn't?" He asked.

"Hex you." She replied, throwing her red hair behind her shoulders.

"So you're telling me," He began and Lily let out a sigh. "That it doesn't matter what I say to you as long as I don't mean it?"

"Well, kind of." She answered, trying to half listen to Slughorn.

"Then if I said to you that I would pay money to lay you, you wouldn't get mad because I was just joking."

Lily's face turned even redder as a fellow Gryffindor boy turned to look at the couple. "Piss off." She snapped.

"How mad are you at me for saying that?"

"I'm 'I want to wring your neck' mad at you right now." She said, clenching her teeth in an attempt to distract her from James.

"But I didn't mean it…"

"Yes you did _Potter_." Lily replied.

"No."

"Yes you did!"

"Nope." James replied and Lily groaned.

"Please James, you would pay me just for a kiss on the cheek." Lily hissed.

James shook his head, "I don't have to." He replied, leaning back in his chair.

"Oh really? Why? Do you think I'd kiss you 'just because'?" Lily asked.

James shook his head slowly again. "No, need I remind you that I'm blackmailing you. So if I want you to kiss me, I can make you without paying you." He said.

This shut Lily up as she turned back to face the front of the classroom. "I hate you."

"Why does my cleverness make you jealous?" He asked, holding her hand tighter in his own.

"No your conceitedness makes me sick." She corrected, trying to pull her hand away from his but he only gripped it tighter.

"You know you love me." He said, running a hand through his hair.

"Stop saying that." Lily replied.

"But you do."

"James, I love Snape more than you."

James frowned. "Do you really mean that?" He pouted a little and looked her straight in the eye as he spoke.

Lily looked over his hurt face. Was she actually regretting saying that…?

"Yes!" She snapped.

"No…you can't." James concluded, turning back to Slughorn.

"Well I do." She said defiantly.

"Really?" James asked in a softer tone.

"Since when do you get so upset when I say something like that to you?" Lily perused.

James shrugged, "I don't know." He looked down at his desk, his hazel eyes wandering up again to Lily.

Lily sighed, her regret now eating away at her. "Fine I take it back. I don't like Snape more than you."

"So you'll have my babies then?"

Lily let out a groan, "Piss off. I was trying to be nice to you and look what I get."

"Don't be so uptight. I was just joking." He said with a wink.

"Well it wasn't funny."

"Maybe you don't have a sense of humor."

"Or maybe it was a sucky joke." Lily lamely retorted.

James grinned at her, "I love you too."

"Just leave me alone Potter."

And to Lily's surprise, he did leave her alone.

* * *

That night, Lily had gone to Newell's office for her detention. And to no one's revelation, James was late.

"Where is he?" Newell asked.

"How should I know?" Lily replied, annoyed. Newell went silent again and tapped him quill anxiously on the desk.

Lily was getting quite irritated by the tapping and was tempted to tell him to stop but knew that would only make him angrier than he already was. But what irritated Lily more was that James hadn't shown up yet.

Lily had told him the other night about this detention and she must have complained about having to spend more time with James at it, all day. So James knew about the detention, he obviously just didn't care enough to come.

"Bloody prat…" She mumbled to herself, imaging James off at some party while she sat here and suffered. She'd get him back for this if it was the last thing she ever did.

Sighing, Newell began to speak, "If he doesn't show up in five more minutes you can leave." He said to Lily. Lily looked up at him, slightly confused.

"Why would you let me leave?" She asked.

"Because you actually showed up and he didn't." Lily still didn't understand why she should be able to go because of that but she wasn't about to argue with him.

Five minutes later, Lily was permitted to leave. "And Miss Evans." Newell said. "Please try to keep your temper under control."

Lily turned her back to Newell and rolled her eyes, "Alright Professor." She replied and opened the door to the dungeons.

Lily smiled a little as she left the room. At least James was good for something….

"Boo!" A voice said to the side of Lily once she was in the corridor.

Calmly, she turned to face whoever made the noise. "James?" She asked, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the dungeons hall.

"Hiya." He said. He was sitting against the dungeons wall with a charms book in his hand and by the looks of it, he had been sitting there a long time.

"What are you doing here?" Lily asked.

"Reading." He replied simply.

"And how long have you been reading?"

"A half hour."

Lily shook her head at him, "And could you tell me why the hell you didn't come to detention if you've been sitting out in the hallway this whole time."

James looked up from his book at her and said, "So you could get out of detention."

"Please, there is no way you could have known that if you didn't show up for detention Newell would let me leave early." She replied, crossing her arms over her chest as James stood up.

"Actually," He began calmly. "He gave me and Snape a detention once and he told us that if either one of us didn't show up, he'd let the other one go without a detention. It was to keep either of us from bailing on it because he knew neither of us would have come otherwise. So I figured he'd do the same with us." He said with a shrug.

Lily frowned and looked over his face trying to see if any part of him wasn't being serious. "Why'd you do it for me though? You're going to be in twice as much trouble now." She said.

"Because I love you." He said, throwing her a cheeky smile.

But instead of getting mad at him for saying something stupid, she merely nodded. "Oh," She said, still unable to get her mind around the concept that James would actually do something nice for her.

"Well, I'll see you around." James said, turning to Newell's door.

"Wait."

James turned his head to look at her, "Thanks." She replied, with a soft smile.

He grinned, "No problem."

"You know…" Lily said, taking a step towards him. "I'd like you a lot more if you acted like this more often."

"So you are falling for me." A knowing smile spread across his face.

"Of course not." Lily said, stepping back from him slightly disgusted by that thought.

"Uh huh…" He nodded. "There is no way you can't be falling for my charm."

Lily's eyes narrowed at him, "Shut up."

"So you're not going to deny it? Must be it's true then."

"I'm not going to deny it because I know it won't do any good." She answered. "You'll just argue with me."

"Liar. You love me."

"Please…"

James looked her over carefully before saying, "I'm just warning you now that I'm really going to try to get you…"

"Haven't you been really trying to get me for years now?" Lily asked.

James nodded slowly and answered, "Yes but it's going to be different now."

"Different?" She asked, raising her eyebrow at him.

"Yeah because before I had to drive you crazy to get your attention. But now, I have your attention so I can loose that act and make you fall hard for me." He replied.

"So you're saying the whole time I've known you has been an act?"

"I didn't mean act…" James said trying to think of a new word. "I meant I was just trying too hard to get you because I wouldn't have gotten your attention otherwise. So now, I'm moving to stage two." He said.

Lily raised an eyebrow curiously at him. She wasn't really following him or better yet, she didn't believe him.

"You will fall for me…" He said, confidently.

"Goodbye James." She said, letting out a groan before turning away from him.

"Bye Love."

* * *

_A/N- Sorry that took so long to get out and sorry that wasn't one of my better chapters._

_Thank you to everyone that reviewed. I really appreciate it._

_Oh and reviews make me write faster…._

_Claire_


	5. A Serving of Potter

_(A/N I guess I accidently deleted this chapter from the story, or maybe I just never posted it. I don't remember...So I'm just letting you know that you might have already read this before. Enjoy!)_

**A Serving of Potter

* * *

**

James knelt next to Lily's bed and watched her breath slowly in and out. In his opinion, she was, if possible, even more beautiful without make-up or her hair all done. He ran a hand slowly down her soft freckled face and smiled at the thought that she couldn't yell at him for doing that now. She could never be this peaceful when she was awake, but not that James wanted it that way. He loved everything about Lily. Even her short temper and her mask of hatred for him.

He reflected for a moment about how sometimes he wished she wasn't as uptight as she was. She took everything James said so seriously. Not that James never egged her on even more, but the majority of the things that came out of his mouth were jokes.

James quickly got bored of thinking and decided to wake her. He leaned over her and yelled "Wake up, Sunshine!"

Lily bolted up in her bed at the sound of his voice. As she did, she bashed her forehead against James's nose. James grabbed his nose and mumbled, "Jeez Evans where's the fire?"

Lily took one look at James and groaned, "This has to be a nightmare..." She pulled the blankets over her head as she lowered herself back down on the bed, ignoring the pain in her forehead.

"Get up Evans, I have a fun-filled afternoon planned for us!" He exclaimed, shaking her shoulders lightly.

Lily twisted away from his grip and croaked, "It's too early for me to have to deal with you."

"It's twelve." James said.

Lily peeked an eye out from under the blanket and looked at the clock to confirm he was correct. "So?" She lamely said. "I still don't want to deal with you."

James rolled his eyes at her. "Come on Love." He took her blanket in his hands and yanked it off her, down towards the bottom of her bed.

"James!" She squealed, as the missing blanket revealed that she was in nothing more than a cami and underwear. A light blush rose over her freckled cheeks as James quirked a smile at her.

"Woah." James muttered, not bothering to hid the fact he was looking her over.

"Horny cow!" She snapped, sitting up in her bed. She reached down, grabbed the royal red blanket and pulled it back over her. "What the hell is your problem?"

"Oh," James said, ignoring the fact that Lily had said anything at all. He turned away from Lily and his eyes landed on the bureau behind him. "I brought you some food." He quickly got up and brought a tray over to Lily, setting it carefully down on her lap. The tray had a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and a buttered roll. Next to the plate was a tall glass of cold apple juice.

Lily's green eyes narrowed at the food in front of her. "Do you think I'm daft? Do you really?" She asked, looking up at him. Their eyes meet and she quirked her eyebrows as she waited for him to respond.

"On the contrary, I think you're amazingly intelligent." He cooed, putting a hand on the side of her face.

Without thinking, she smacked his hand away from her. She was so used to him doing that, that slapping him away had just become a natural reaction. "Just tell me what you spiked this with." Lily said, trying to remain calm.

"Nothing." James replied, slowly.

"Seriously, just tell me."

"Nothing."

"James!"

"There's nothing there but food." He insisted with a light shrug of his shoulders. "And a glass of your favorite juice." He added with a wink.

Lily frowned and looked his face over. Dealing with James was like dealing with a five year old. Not a normal five year old but the kind of kid who you can say anything to, and it won't bother them; the kind of kid you can say 'no' to a million times, but they won't be phased by it. They just carry on like nothing you say matters to them. "Just tell me and I won't get mad." She said through gritted teeth.

"Too late for that." James said with a light chuckle as he watched the color rise in Lily's face. "You might as well have smoke coming out of your ears."

"Because you won't tell me what you put in the damn food!" She snapped. She was losing her patience, fast, which wasn't anything new. In fact, she didn't really even have patience at all left in her when it came to dealing with James.

"I didn't put anything in it." James said for one last time.

"Fine." Lily said, carefully picking up the tray of food and lifting it off her legs. She set it at the bottom of her bed before grabbing a pair of pajama pants on the floor and sliding them on under the blankets. She stood up and marched over to her trunk.

"What are you doing?" James asked, watching her dig through her perfectly neat trunk. Sickeningly neat actually.

"Proving that you're a lying arse." She replied, pulling a vile filled with a green substance out of her trunk.

"You're going to poison yourself?" James asked, stupidly. He knew, if anything, Lily would poison him with it. He wouldn't put something like that past her...

Lily rolled her eyes, "No but I might just have to resort to suicide if you keep appearing in my dorm."

"But you love me too much to leave me." James said, smiling sweetly at her.

Lily grimaced at his 'I'm-trying-to-be-absolutely-lovable-but-it's-just-not-working-for-me' face, "Piss off." She snapped. She uncorked the vile and poured a drop of the thin substance on her food and one more drop into the glass of apple juice.

James watched her do this, trying to figure out why she would be poisoning perfectly good food... "Well? What's the poison for then?"

Lily looked up at him and gave him 'The Look'. "Genius. It's not poison." She shook her head at him before returning her eyes to the plate in front of her. "Hmm..." She muttered as she carefully looked over her food. If James had put any kind of potion in it, the infected spots would tint a light purple color.

"Well?" James asked, impatiently. He knew what Lily was doing now that he realized it wasn't poison she was dripping on her food. He had remembered reading something about a potion that could detect other potions. It was very difficult to make, but James knew Lily could brew any potion with her hands tied around her back.

"Shut up Potter." She snapped after a few seconds. If there had been something in the food, it should have changed color by now.

James smiled at her as she sat back down on the bed. "You were testing it to see if it had poison in it huh?" He said as she slid the tray onto her legs.

"I said shut up!" Lily barked, grabbing a fork and stabbing a piece of egg with it. She hated being wrong. Maybe even more than she hated Potter. Well, maybe not that much...

James's smile only got larger, showing off the dimple on his chin. "I told you so." He teased as he sat down at the end of her four-poster bed.

"Get your bloody arse off my clean bed!" She pointed the fork warning at him.

James quirked an eyebrow at the raised fork. Lucky for him he was smart enough not to give Lily a knife too. "Happy?" He asked after moving to the adjacent bed.

"Very." She sneered.

"So are you ready for a fun-filled day with yours truly?" He questioned as she bit into a piece of bacon. She chewed it slowly, fighting herself as she did. The bacon was delicious, maybe the best she ever had, but _It_ had given it to her. Therefore it wasn't _good _bacon, it wasn't even okay. It was gross.

"I'd rather lick a toilet clean." She grumbled, shoving the rest of the bacon in her mouth.

"What Love? You're thanking me for bringing your breakfast." He put his hand to his ear, mocking that he couldn't hear her. "It was no problem, really."

"Why did you do this anyway?" She asked with a chunk of bread in her mouth. Screw manners. After all, it was just Potter.

"Because I loooove you." He cooed and moved his seat to right next to her. He leaned against her and slid his arm around her waist.

Lily moved as far away from him as she could without falling off the bed, "Ew. Please don't touch me."

"You know what?" James began matter-of-factly.

"Please enlighten me..." She replied, less than enthusiastic.

"You should be nicer to me."

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes, "Not this again..." She mumbled.

"No, I'm being serious." James said, standing up from the bed. "I hold your future in my hand." He reached out his hand over-dramatically. "And you don't have one nice thing to say about me! Not one thing!"

Lily blinked at him before returning to her meal. "Are you through?" She questioned.

"Yeah, pretty much." James said happily as he sat back down next to Lily.

Lily grimaced and slid farther away from him. "Please. Remember the my personal bubble." She said, before chugging down some apple juice.

"Pop!" James said as he poked his finger through the 'invisible bubble'. He slid his arm around her waist again and pulled her closer to himself.

Lily tensed up under his grip. "It's touching me again!" She groaned and sat up straighter to move away from the arm at her back. "You're making me loss my appetite."

"Aw that's sweet. You gave me a pet name. It." He said, smiling to himself.

Lily raised an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, okay?" She said slowly.

"You know," He began, which made Lily groan. Every time he began a sentence with 'You know', you could be sure it was going to be a) stupid b)embarrassing c)'wisdom' or d) any combination of the above. "A sure sign someone likes you is if they give you a nickname." He said matter-of-fact like.

"Well thank you for that fun fact Dr. Potter." Lily boredly yawned.

"Do you think it's true?" James asked.

Lily stood up from her bed and went over to her dresser. "I don't really care." After opening the top drawer, she pulled out an outfit and then proceeded into the bathroom.

"I didn't ask you if you cared or not." James said, watching her every move. "I asked you if you thought it was true."

Lily thought for a moment and frowned, "I guess. I mean, it depends on the nickname."

"Please elaborate." James said to the now closed door of the bathroom. He stood up from his spot on the bed and began to look through Lily's bed-side drawer.

Lily shrugged, "I don't know. Like if it's something stupid like 'Love' then no because that's just annoying. But if it's teasing the other person, then I guess. But it depends." Lily explained as she slid off her pajamas.

A smile broke out on James's face. "You subconsciously just told me you liked me."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lily asked, sliding on a clean school blouse.

"You gave me a nickname." He replied, happily.

"James 'It' is not a nickname." Lily answered. She tossed her pajamas into the hamper and proceeded to put on her skirt.

"I'm not talking about that one." James said. "I'm talking about another one."

"Yeah and the nickname 'You're a pain in my arse' doesn't count as one either.'"

"Still not talking about that one."

"Or man whore."

"Duh." James paused before adding. "Well, unless you said 'My man-whore'. 'Cause that's possessive and all."

"Well I don't say it that way." Lily replied, pulling her hair back into a messy pony-tail.

"I know."

"So then what are you talking about?" Lily questioned, getting annoyed at this conversation. But that's not really saying much seeing that she was annoyed at about ever conversation herself and James had.

"Are you sure you don't know?" James asked. He pulled out a photo album from the drawer and flipped through it.

"So incredibly positive." Lily replied, throwing the door open.

James shrugged, "Okay."

"Okay?" Lily asked. "That's it? You have a chance to prove my un-dying love for you and you're not going to?" She cooed, holding her clasped hands under her chin and raising her foot as if she was swooning over James.

James nodded, "Yup."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever Potter." She said in a final-like tone. "I'm going to ask Slughorn if he'll let me use the lab today."

"Uh, no you're not."

"Uh yeah I am." She replied sharply. She looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror standing in the corner of the dorm. Frowning, she grabbed a bag off her bureau and started to apply make-up.

"No. We have a date." He said cheerfully.

Lily shook her head slowly and pointed the tube of massacre at James. That was one of her habits; pointing when she was talking. "Let's get this straight Four-Eyes," Lily began and a smile cracked across James's face. "What?" She asked, not finding anything she had just said to be remotely amusing.

"Continue..." He replied, the smile on his face.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him and continued, "I am not your girlfriend. The only reason I spend any time with you is because you're blackmailing me. Get it?" She turned back to the mirror and quickly put on massacre.

"Liar." James said, childishly.

Lily didn't look up from what she was doing but muttered, "Whatever. Goodbye Potter. The door is right there."

"You love me." He gushed. He cheerfully sat down next to her, bumping her arm as he did. Lily's hand jerked, getting massacre on her forehead. James shrugged an apology that was, of course, not accepted.

"And how do you figure that?" She snapped, quite ready to hex his mouth shut.

"Because you gave me a nick-name."

Lily rolled her eyes. _How many times are we going to have to talk about this? _She angrily thought. "Didn't we just go over this?! I do NOT have a nickname for you!" Her anger was rising quickly due to an overdose of Potter so early in the morning.

"Does Four-Eyes ring any bells?" He asked, tapping his glasses for a more desired effect.

Lily recoiled, "What?" She breathed.

"You heard me Carrot Top." He said, pinching her cheek.

Lily swatted his hand away from her face. "Piss off." She hissed as she turned back to the mirror to finish her make-up.

"So you're not going to deny it?" James cooed as his arm found her waist again.

"There's no point to it!" She stood up as soon as James put his arm around her. After putting her make-up back on the bureau and grabbing a sweater off the coatrack, she headed out the door.

"Because you know that you can't keep secrets from me. I know you love me!" He said, following her down the stairs towards the common room. Unfortunately for him, the stairs can't tell the difference if a guy is going up or down them, so they immediately formed a slid, knocking him and Lily down.

Lily's feet kicked out from underneath her and she landed less than gracefully on her back. James soon followed her landing directly on her with an 'umph'.

Lily winced, her breath being knocked out of her. "I can't breath James." She said to the boy laying on top of her.

James propped himself up on his hands. "Well this is comfy." He said, looking down at Lily, her red hair a mess on the floor.

Lily grimaced at his comment, "Get off of me!" She demanded, trying to push him off.

James grinned mischievously and leaned his face down closer to her. "Mmmm...Lily!" He moaned, loud enough for the entire common room to hear.

"James Potter get your sorry arse off of me right now!" She yelled, wiggling underneath him. Her face was a bright red at the thought of anyone looking in their direction might think the two of them were making-out.

"Well would you look at this." A third voice joined the conversation. Lily craned her head around James to see who it was, but James didn't need to look to know it was Sirius.

A bright flash blinded Lily. "What the hell was that?" She snapped from underneath James. She blinked, trying to get rid of the white dots in front of her eyes.

"A camera." Sirius replied, cheerfully.

Lily's mouth dropped as she glared at James, "I'm going to kill you." She hissed, pushing him off of her with all her strength. James sort of rolled off of her with a chuckle. Lily quickly stood up and blushed when she realized that pretty much everyone in the common room was looking at them.

"Let me see the picture." James said, ignoring Lily's threats. He too stood up and watched Sirius magically remove a picture from the camera.

Sirius tapped the blank picture with his wand. Colors disbursed from his wand, filling the page. Sirius let out a laugh as he looked the photo over. "That's going to make one hell of a Christmas card."

"What?" Lily dryly said as she tried to snatch the picture away from Sirius.

"I don't think so." He said, passing the picture to James.

James took one look at the picture and a sly smile crossed his face. "That is one hot picture." He said.

"Let me see it!" Lily demanded, as she desperately dove for the picture.

James chuckled and merely raised the picture above her head. "The look on her face is priceless."

Sirius nodded in agreement, "She so looks into you."

"James give me the picture!" Lily snapped.

James ignored her and said, "She _is_ into me."

"Right...I forgot." Sirius muttered. He looked up from the photo to Lily to see her face was bright red and her mouth was locked in a scowl. "Um..." He began. "I-I think I'll be going." He said to James, before taking off towards his dorm. Lily looked anger, beyond anger actually. Maybe even completely 100 pissed off. And Sirius figured he shouldn't be around when she exploded.

James looked up at Lily and smiled, "Why are you so red?" He asked, knowing exactly why she was blushing.

"Give. Me. The. Photo." She hissed through gritted teeth.

"But," James began.

"Give it to me Potter!"

"Alright, alright. I'll let you _look_ at it." James replied, handing the picture over to her. "But I'm keeping it."

Lily snatched it out of his hand and turned her back to him as she looked it over. She grimaced in disgust at the picture. It was one of those magical moving pictures, except the picture caught the two as James was leaning in closer to her, making it appear that they were going to kiss.

"This is disgusting!" She whined as she attempted to rip the picture in two. Unfortunately for her, the photo acted like rubber when she tried to destroy it. She tried again to rip it and again, but nothing happened. It merely bent and then resumed it's normal shape.

She wheeled around to James and yelled, "What the hell did you do to it?"

James chuckled and shook his head, "It was Sirius."

"I bloody hate you Potter." She said, clearly frustrated.

"Why? I didn't take the picture it was Sirius."

"But Sirius is your friend! Therefore it is your fault!" She snapped stupidly as she turned to storm out of the common room.

"Love, it was just a joke." James called behind her.

"Well I'm sick of your stupid jokes!" She yelled at him. "Just leave me alone for the love of God."

James slipped his wand out of his pocket and pointed it at Lily, though she didn't noticed because her back was towards him. "Accio picture."

The picture went zooming towards James. He caught it and grinned mischievously as Lily turned around to see where it had went. Her eyes narrowed at James. "Give it back!"

"Why you want to day dream with it; day dream about how much you wished you _had_ kissed me?" He cooed, making a gooey-love face.

Lily came storming back towards the stairs, "You are the last guy I would ever want to kiss!" She snatched the picture back and James let her.

James went silent for a moment, studying her face. Lily frowned and looked him over, trying to figure out what he was thinking. "That's not true." He said calmly.

"Yes it is."

James shook his head, "No it's not. You could have any guy in this school but you're still single." He began confidently. "It's because you like me."

"You're wrong James. I don't have a boyfriend because guys are afraid that your crazy freaky self will kill them in the middle of the night if they go out with me." She explained.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" Lily snapped.

"So then get a boyfriend." James took a step closer to her. So close that Lily could feel his minty breath on her cheek.

Lily looked up at him slowly. "But what about the blackmail thing?" She asked him meekly. Lily swore at herself for losing the volume in her voice. Why did she always do that; get all quiet when James stepped within three feet of her?

James grinned lightly. "See, you won't get a boyfriend."

"Because I don't want you to blab about the-." She paused, realizing most of the common room was listening. "The you know."

"I won't." James assured her. "I promise." Lily looked down away from him. She didn't want pressure like that to get a boyfriend... "Come on Evans." He said, stepping even closer to her. "I dare you."

Lily thought for a second. She couldn't just go out and get a boyfriend. She might have wanted one but she knew she wasn't just going to 'run into' someone she liked. Especially with Potter breathing down her back, which she knew he was going to do to see if she actually would get a boyfriend. "What if I don't want a boyfriend?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Oh." James nodded, a smirk on his face. "A girlfriend works too."

Lily shoved him, "That's not what I meant."

"I know." James said with a chuckle, his smile growing.

"So." Lily muttered, darting hate bullets at him with her eyes.

"So, let's go on our date." James took Lily by the arm and pulled her out of the common room. Lily let out a loud groan. A loud groan that didn't fool James.

_A/N - To start, sorry this took so long to get out. It's not my favorite chapter but it's not total crap._

_I had to repost this, in case some of you are wondering. It got deleted somehow, I probably accidently did it I just didn't realize it. It must have been one of those blond moments...I have too many of those._

_Please Review._

_Claire_


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